A farmer who used his forklift tractor to flip and push a Vauxhall Corsa car off his land after a row with the driver over blocking access has been cleared by a jury of dangerous driving and criminal damage after going through “months of hell”.
Robert Hooper, 57, a fourth-generation hill farmer, used a telehandler with forks to lift the car from a lane outside his farm in Newbiggin-in-Teesdale, County Durham, flip it and push it on its side on to the road outside, mobile phone footage played to Durham crown court showed.
Hooper argued that an “Englishman’s home is his castle”, and claimed he had been punched by Charlie Burns, 21, a passenger in the car, when he first politely asked him and the driver to leave as they were blocking access on a busy day on the farm.
Burns, who had been visiting the area on that day last June and had drunk up to seven bottles of lager, was knocked to the ground by the vehicle’s lifting forks, the jury heard.
Hooper, who has no previous convictions, claimed the younger man punched him twice in the farm buggy he was driving, splitting his lip. He said he told the driver, Elliott Johnson, and Burns: “If you don’t move it, I will.”
Hooper said: “I thought, ‘We have a bit of a problem here, there’s two of them, half my age.’ I didn’t know what they had in terms of weapons, or what they were capable of doing. I thought if the car was off the property, that would be them off the property, out of the way.”
He told the court he was aware of an “influx” of youths visiting the area that summer, some of whom were engaging in antisocial behaviour. He added: “I felt threatened, and an Englishman’s home is his castle, and my castle starts at that front gate.”
In his closing speech to the jury, Michael Rawlinson, defending, gave the origin of the saying, referring to comments made by judge Sir Edward Coke, which set legal precedents in 1604.
Referring to arguments about how Hooper could have acted differently that day, Rawlinson also quoted the boxer Mike Tyson, saying: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
In a statement after Hooper’s acquittal, his partner, Kate Henderson, said: “The overwhelming support of the local community and people from afar have kept him going these last eight months of hell.”
Burns had been drinking with friends at Low Force waterfall and was intending to walk 52 miles back to South Tyneside when he spotted his friend, Johnson, whose Corsa had suffered a double puncture, which was why they parked in the farmer’s lane, the jury heard.
In his closing remarks, David Ward, prosecuting, told the jury the crown was not saying that Hooper was a “thug”, but that his actions were “utterly irrational” that day.
Teesdale farmers who were there to support Hooper, welcomed the verdicts after a four-day trial. William Wearmouth told reporters: “He is absolutely first class. He is a hard-working man. He will help anyone with anything. It’s great to see that the jury has realised this.”
John Dickinson said: “It’s a really good result for the local area. Robert is a very decent, upstanding man who shouldn’t have to have gone through all this.”